Sweet & Sour Honey Pickled Beets

Today I am making pickled beets - with some old larger jars that I had on hand but had not used as they are nearly too large for my canning pot. But, they do mostly fit, so I have been giving it a go to see if I can get these to turn out.

By the way, my jam I made yesterday in the flip top jars, failed to seal in 2 of the jars. Now I know what I don't like about these jars! Because there is no lid that 'pops' when it seals, you do not know if the seal has taken until the next day when you can undo the clamp and see if the lid opens.

I can re-process them again in boiling water or leave them in the fridge and we'll have to eat them sooner. Before I started to become negative about it, I stopped to remind myself that my first try with the other type of jars did the same thing, so perhaps this is all part of the learning curve.

Even as I write this, there is another jar of sweet & sour honey pickled beets in the canner. The entire process of making pickles is far more involved and messy - but again it is something that would only be done a couple of times a year and we would get to enjoy more yummy foods made at home.

1 litre jars for the beets

For the beets I read and read what other people have done and finally decided on a few ingredients that I would enjoy with the beets. These are very sweet vegetables, so I was amazed at the amount of sugar people were putting in with their pickling juice. 

Boiling water bath with the larger pot and jar

Of course, no sugar here, so to keep it from being overly sour I added a little bit of honey, cinnamon, cloves and the vinegar. It certainly smelled lovely, but it takes a couple of weeks to cure before it should be tasted. 

Chopped cooked beets ready to go into jars - hot

As I am fasting for the next week, that is not a problem, but once again I am looking forward to tasting these foods that I am making. Oh and by the way, the jars with the beets sealed right up (popped) a few minutes after coming out of the boiling water bath, music to my ears! LOL

Off to go figure out a recipe for these gherkins....

April

1 litre jar of pickled beets 

Back on the jam...

Yesterday was an interesting day - we had sunshine, so that was new and very nice for us all. I also got out into the garden and between planting, harvesting herbs, weeding as well as all the other little things, got very little time to make anything new.

I did get to make some jams late last night, mostly because the fruit was not going to last, it had to be cooked into jams or else! Once I got started with the chopping and setting up for the canning process, I realized a few important things.

First of all, the apple pectin I had made two days before which had sat in a bowl, had thickened up and looked like liquid pectin. This was promising as it was not made with the best type of apple, giving me hope that once I do find the perfect apples, the pectin will turn out even better.

Another thing about jam, cooking at home and making our own foods that I have to constantly remind myself of is that the final results will not taste, look or necessarily resemble something that comes from a shop. Homemade crackers are not the perfectly uniform shapes and thickness that you will find in a packet nor is home baked spelt bread neat and tidy in perfect little loaves. 

Of course, the best thing about all of this cooking and creating at home - is the fact that last night after my jam was made and I was waiting for the jars in the boiling water bath, I found myself eating spoonfuls of warm jam from the jar. 

Pot for boiling water bath

Never in my life do I remember eating spoonfuls of jam, but this was so fragrant and inviting for a nice piece of buttered spelt bread...

This first for me was all the proof that I needed, once again to show me that homemade is always the best way to go. Of course the jam looks, tastes and smells different from the shop bought kind - it is different, we have been reconditioned into thinking that food should 'look' a certain way and that simply is not the case. Food produced at home does not look as if it has been processed by a machine.

Jars of jams made last night

Finally, when you start talking with people about jams, cooking, food and the various ways that we all go about creating our home made goods, everyone has a different take on it and their own methods. People's preferences for their own foods are important and not in any way uniform or able to be re-created inside the walls of a factory. 

This alone gives us all hope!

April